Mckeon
A Scottish masculine name of uncertain meaning, possibly related to "son of Ewan".
Name Census estimates that about 10 living Americans carry the first name Mckeon. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Mckeon today is around 17 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Mckeon births was 2008 (5 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Mckeon. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Mckeon. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
10
~ 1 in 34,275,434 Americans
Peak year
2008
5 babies that year
Average age
17
years old
2010 SSA rank
#13,583
Tracked since 2008
Popularity
Mckeon: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Mckeon from the 2000s through to the 2010s, spanning 2 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 5 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Mckeon by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Mckeon during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Mckeon
The name Mckeon has its origins in the Irish Gaelic language, where it is derived from the words "mac" meaning "son" and "eòin" meaning "bird" or "little bird." This suggests that the name may have initially been used to describe someone who had a connection with birds, such as a bird handler or a person with a bird-like appearance or demeanor.
The earliest recorded instances of the name Mckeon can be traced back to medieval Ireland, where it was primarily used in parts of the country like County Westmeath and County Longford. In those times, the name was often spelled as "Mac Eòin" or variations like "MacKeown" or "MacEwen."
While there are no known direct references to the name Mckeon in ancient texts or religious scriptures, it is believed to have been used by various Irish clans and families during the Middle Ages. One notable figure from this era was Somerled MacEwen, a 12th-century Scottish king from the House of Ilay, who ruled parts of the Hebrides and western Scotland.
In the 16th century, a famous Irish poet and historian named Tarlach Óg Ó Maoil Chonaire, also known as Terlagh Oge MacKeown, lived and worked in County Westmeath. His writings and works provide some of the earliest documented references to the name Mckeon in its modern spelling.
Another notable individual with the name Mckeon was Edward Mckeon, an Irish-born American politician who served as the 14th governor of Nevada from 1891 to 1895. He was born in 1833 in County Monaghan, Ireland, and immigrated to the United States in the mid-19th century.
In the world of sports, John Mckeon was a successful American baseball manager and coach. He was born in 1930 in Oakland, California, and managed several Major League Baseball teams, including the Kansas City Royals, Oakland Athletics, and Florida Marlins, winning the World Series with the Marlins in 2003.
Another prominent figure with the name Mckeon was Robert Mckeon, an American actor and screenwriter who lived from 1918 to 1994. He is best known for his work on classic films like "Citizen Kane" and "The Maltese Falcon," for which he received an Academy Award nomination.
People
Mckeon + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Mckeon as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with M
Other first names starting with M with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Mckeon: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Mckeon?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 10 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Mckeon going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 34,275,434 US residents.
Is Mckeon a common name?
We classify Mckeon as "Very Rare". It ranks above 28.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 10 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Mckeon most popular?
The single biggest year for Mckeon was 2008, when 5 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Mckeon is about 17 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Mckeon in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Mckeon a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Mckeon in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Mckeon still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Mckeon in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Mckeon can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only covers names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files do not have a published Census demographic snapshot. In those cases, the page still shows the SSA trend, gender history, and state data.
How common is the name Mckeon?
See how many Americans are named Mckeon on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.